Ashley Lawrence; Orchestra Director For Ballets Was 55

By ALLAN KOZINN

Published: May 8, 1990

Ashley Lawrence, the music director of the Stuttgart Ballet of West Germany and the recently appointed principal guest conductor of the New York City Ballet, died of an aneurysm yesterday at the Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital in Tokyo, The Associated Press reported. He was 55 years old.

Mr. Lawrence was touring Japan with the Stuttgart Ballet. He had been in the hospital since Thursday when he fell in the lobby of a Tokyo hotel.

Mr. Lawrence was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, on June 5, 1934, and went to London in 1959 to study conducting with Rafael Kubelik at the Royal College of Music. He joined the conducting staff of the Royal Ballet in 1962, and took up his first important directorship in 1967, when he became music director for the ballet at the Deutsche Oper, in West Berlin.

Televised Performances

In 1969, he became music director at the Stuttgart Ballet, and held the post for two years before returning to London to become music director of the BBC Concert Orchestra. He also returned to the Royal Ballet, becoming the company's principal conductor in 1972 and its music director in 1973.

During his years with the Royal Ballet, he conducted several televised performances that have been released on videotape, including Massenet's ''Manon'' and Prokofiev's ''Romeo and Juliet,'' both choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan.

Mr. Lawrence left the Royal Ballet in 1987, and returned to the Stuttgart Ballet. He was also principal guest conductor of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1987 to 1989. He made his first appearance with the New York City Ballet last year, conducting ''Jewels,'' a Balanchine ballet with music by Faure, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.